North Sea container clean-up bonus: the wreck of a 16th century ship

DutchNews, April 3, 2019

Minister Engelshoven (left) inspects some of the copper sheeting. Photo: Robbert
Frank Hagens / HH

A clean-up operation to retrieve some of the containers blown off the MSC Zoe in February from the bottom of the North Sea has revealed the remains of a 16th century ship, Nu.nl reports. 

The find, which was made public by culture minister Ingrid van Engelshoven on Wednesday, came to light when the salvage company fished out a number copper plates which they initially thought had been part of the contents of one of the containers. 

When their second haul contained a number of oak beams they called in marine archaeologists. 

The beams turned out to be made from trees cut down in 1536 while the copper plates were used to make copper coins which were later used by merchants in the Golden Age. 

The plates were found to be carrying the mark of the influential German Fugger banking and merchant family which dominated European business life in the 15th and 16th centuries. Archaeologists said it is the oldest copper cargo ever found in the Netherlands. 

The ship measures some 7.5 meters across and 25 to 30 meters in length. ‘It has a flat bottom so it could carry big loads,’ maritime archaeologist Alice Overmeer told Nu.nl. ‘It is the type of ship that was built in the northern Netherlands.’ 

Research into the wreck will continue during the summer. 

Some 345 containers were lost during the February storm on the North Sea with goods littering the beaches of the Wadden islands for weeks. Minister Van Engelshoven called the accidental discovery of the wreck ‘a silver lining’.

Dutch maritime investigators searching for missing containers washed overboard during a North Sea storm have accidentally stumbled on a 16-century shipwreck, the oldest such a find to date https://t.co/nk2BZGN2w1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 3 april 2019

Ship loses potentially dangerous cargo in North Sea: Coastguard

Yahoo – AFP, January 2, 2019

Ship loses potentially dangerous cargo in North Sea: Coastguard

The Hague (AFP) - A cargo ship caught in rough North Sea weather lost at least 270 containers, including four holding potentially dangerous substances, the Dutch and German coastguards said Wednesday.

The Panama-registered MSC Zoe shed the containers containing mostly toys, furniture and auto spare parts while battling a storm off the Frisian Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern Dutch coast also known as the Wadden Islands.

The Dutch coastguard tweeted that three of the containers contained, in powder form, highly flammable, potentially dangerous organic peroxides used in making plastics which can cause irritation if breathed in.

German coastguard sources said they had located one container holding organic peroxide among six containers that reached the country's coastline.

They also warned the public not to touch the containers if found, but to call police or the fire brigade.

The Dutch coastguard, which said the containers went overboard not far from the German island of Borkum, added they did not have information about the content of cargo beyond that of the 20 or so containers which washed up on the islands.

Dutch broadcaster NOS showed local people around one of the containers and pictured toys and other materials strewn across beaches as well as one man carrying off a flat screen television.

A Dutch coastguard spokesman told NOS it was likely the containers holding the peroxides had sunk.

A Dutch coastguard plane was due to undertake a new search on Thursday morning while strong winds were hampering the MSC Zoe's own attempts to carry out an inventory.

The mayor of Terschelling island, where some of the cargo washed ashore, told NOS he expected it would take several days to clear the beach of stray items from the containers.

The 2015-built MSC Zoe, which was headed to the northern German port of Bremerhaven, is one of the world's largest container vessels at 396 metres (1300 feet) long and 59 metres wide.

Photo: Kustwacht

Related Articles:

Photos show chaos on container ship as Dutch beach clean-up begins

The Dutch military joined beach clean-up efforts, two days after some 270 shipping containers tumbled from one of the world's biggest cargo boats into the North Sea in stormy weather https://t.co/GS6IPT8Pqz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 4, 2019

Wil je straks helpen met #helpwad #CleanupWadden #OpruimActie na de #containerramp met #MSCZoe? In dit kaartje zijn we allerlei plekken aan het verzamelen waar je aan de slag kunt. https://t.co/oTwfqwbJ55

Aanvullingen / aanpassingen? Geef maar door.

Delen / embedden: feel free

— Ritzo ten Cate (@ritzotencate) January 5, 2019

Dutch superyacht yards set new records for market value and share

DutchNews, May 17, 2018

Like superyachts themselves, the Dutch share of the superyacht building industry keeps getting bigger. The Holland Yachting Group says the Dutch saw their market share in the total value of global superyacht deliveries rise by 7.6% to almost 30% in 2017. 

With 23 new orders on the books, there is much more to come in the years ahead, the group said. ‘In essence, the Dutch are selling more superyachts at a higher total value, while also steadily increasing their market share over the past five years’. 

The Dutch yachtbuilding industry defines a superyacht as being over 30 metres in length. 

The 21 deliveries of boats over 30 metres made in 2017 were made by 10 different yards. The superyachts concerned had a total value of €1.19bn, which translates into an average price of €57m per superyacht, an increase of almost 10%. 

It is also the highest total value recorded to date, Holland Yachting Group said. 

Germany, Italy and the Netherlands – in no particular order – are the world’s leading superyacht builders. Germany specialises in larger yachts, Italy in series production, while the Netherlands specialises in custom-built yachts in the 24 to 70 metre sector.

Ai Weiwei plans Berlin memorial to drowned refugees

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is planning a work to commemorate the refugees who drowned on their way to Europe.The memorial will be made out of 14,000 life jackets left by migrants on the beach.

Deutsche Welle, 3 February 2016

For this memorial project, Ai Weiwei will use 14,000 discarded life jackets he obtained from the Greek island of Lesbos according to a statement from the office of the island's mayor Spiros Galinos on Tuesday (02.02.2016).

"This work aims to mobilize the global community regarding the crime carried out daily in the Aegean by ruthless people smugglers," the statement added.

Although smugglers sell these life jackets at a high price, they are usually poorly made and are useless in case of an accident at sea.

Currently a guest professor at Berlin's University of Arts, Ai Weiwei has developed a strong interest in the refugees' plight. He has established a studio on the island of Lesbos, a landing point for many migrants crossing over to Europe over the Aegean Sea.

Ai Weiwei posing as Aylan Kurdi

Earlier this week, the Chinese artist already made headlines through a photo of himself posing as Aylan Kurdi on a Lesbos beach for the magazine "India Today." The pictures of the Syrian toddler whose body was found last September have become an iconic symbol of the Syrian refugee crisis.

Despite the world's growing awareness, people fleeing war-torn countries are still perishing every week while trying to reach Europe. According to the latest numbers provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in January alone, 360 people have drowned during this perilous journey, and in the last five months 330 children have died on the Mediterranean.

eg/kbm (AFP, dpa)

Soul-searching: heart-rending photo of drowned toddler shows cost of Europe's migrant crisis http://t.co/z4jFW5aF3v pic.twitter.com/vkle4cbLU8

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 3, 2015

Related Articles:

China's Ai Weiwei shuts show to protest Danish migrant law

EU strikes deal on 3 billion euro migration fund for Turkey - New

'Moral duty' to save Mediterranean migrants, says Gauck

The German president has called for more compassion toward migrants in view of Germany's own experiences with forced migration after WWII. He said providing them with sanctuary was 'non-negotiable.'

Deutsche Welle, 20 June 2015

 Refugees on board a ship REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello

Speaking on Saturday at a ceremony in Berlin to remember victims of displacement, Gauck said he hoped that the memory of German expellees who were forced to flee the country's former eastern territories during and after World War II would deepen understanding for migrants today.

He described how 12 to 14 million Germans lost their homelands by the end of the war, leading to a population increase of 20 percent in the former West and East Germanies.

Gauck pointed out that if Germany had been able to integrate millions of refugees 70 years ago when it was "poor and devastated," it should be able to do more in the present refugee crisis, and even benefit from it.

"Why should a Germany that is economically successful and politically stable not be able to recognize future opportunities in today's challenges?" he asked.

"Let us remember what a great part refugees and forced migrants played in successfully rebuilding Germany," he added.

More European help

He also called on European Union countries to do more to help cope with the current growing wave of refugees coming to Europe.

In view of the huge number of migrants who have died attempting the perilous boat crossing from Africa to Europe over the Mediterranean, Gauck said it was a "moral duty" to save people from drowning.

"We would lose our self-respect if we left people drifting on waters near our continent to cope for themselves," he said, adding that all European states had an obligation to provide people with a safe refuge.

This obligation was "non-negotiable," and lasted until migrants either could return home without danger or had found a place to live in safety either in Germany or elsewhere, he said.

'No easy solutions'

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere also spoke at the ceremony, warning that there were no "easy solutions" to the current migration crisis.

Last year, the German government declared the 20 June to be a day of remembrance for refugees and displaced people, in conjunction with the United Nations' World Refugee Day.

The German day is partly to commemorate the millions of Germans who were forced to flee their homes in several eastern European countries as a result of World War II and seek refuge in Germany and Austria, greatly swelling the populations there.

tj/sgb (AFP, dpa, KNA, epd)

Related Articles:

EU approves military mission to tackle migrant smugglers: sources

Rohingya hope for peaceful Ramadan in Indonesia

Rohingya women are seen standing at a confinement area in Kuala Cangkoi,

Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/Chaideer Mahyuddin)

MOAS: 'Migrants do not deserve to die out at sea'

Last year, the private Migrant Offshore Aid Station saved 3,000 migrants in distress at sea. In view of the surge of people trying to reach Europe in rickety boats, MOAS hopes to expand its operations.

Deutsche Welle, 20 April 2015

Life vests being thrown to refugees on boat

DW: How exactly does MOAS operate? Do you get emergency calls?

Martin Xuereb: We operate in two ways: reactive and proactive. Reactive in a sense that normally a boat in distress would contact rescue coordination centers first. If they call us first, we also call and inform the rescue coordination center, and, once they're aware of the boat in distress, they will decide whom to ask to help. If we are close, they would task us. We would go and try and find the boat. We sometimes use drones. Once the boat is located, we inform the rescue coordination center and we'll go close and deploy one of our dinghies with a rescue expert, a doctor, a paramedic and life jackets on board, which goes close to the migrant craft. We go alongside the boat to determine the state of the boat and the first thing we do is give life jackets to everyone. Then we report back on the state of the boat, its size, how many people we think are on the boat - men, women and children - and, if need be, we do the rescue.

Last year, the first boat we assisted was a 12-meter (40-foot) boat with 271 people on board, including over a hundred women and children, and this boat was already taking in water. Luckily, they had a bilge pump, but it was already a boat in distress, so we started the rescue straight away. Once we take people on board, we are constantly in contact with the rescue coordination center, and they tell us where to disembark.  

Martin Xuereb retired from
Malta's military in 2013

Last year we were out at sea for 60 days. This year we set out to sea on May 2, and we'll be at sea for six months this time. This time, we also partnered with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), because we feel that, once we do the search and the rescue, the people that come on board deserve the best care possible, so MSF will be giving assistance.

The MOAS team saves people no one else seems to care that much about. What happens to them after their rescue?

We focus on saving people at sea. It's not the solution to the migration problem - however, we say if a person dies at sea, then what happened to him before and what will happen after is irrelevant, so, as a foundation, what we do is encourage others to try and solve the problem of migration, tackle the issue of trafficking. The foundation tries to make sure that these people, who see no option but to cross the Mediterranean, do not die while they are out at sea.

Who are the Catrambone family and why are they so committed to helping the refugees - and privately, with their own money?

Christopher and Regina Catrambone - he's American; she's Italian - set up MOAS and funded the operation last year. They feel that people do not deserve to die out at sea. They are entrepreneurs, but they feel the responsibility to helping people in distress lies not solely with the state or the EU. They feel civil society needs to mitigate loss of life at sea, civil society should not be a bystander, and, rather than talk about it, or write about it, they decided to do something about it.

How do you finance the operations?

We are a private entity, so we need support. People have been donating since November last year. Over 50 percent of the donations we have received have come from Germany. We have a MOAS swapsite and a donate button, we're partners with MSF, and the founders, Cristopher and Regina Catrambone, continue to support us. However, we still have a long way to go. We hope we have inspired people, convinced them that migrants do not deserve to die out at sea.

Shouldn't governments and politicians be doing the job you're doing?

Yes. They should shoulder the responsibility, remove politics from search and rescue, and put saving lives at the top of their agenda.

We need to bring all our assets to bear, to come together and find a solution. The European states and governments should take the lead, although civil society and NGOs should be ready to help in this effort.

Martin Xuereb heads MOAS. He's a Maltese native. During his 26-year military career, Xuereb oversaw search and rescue missions as Malta's chief of defense. He has been Malta's representative on the EU Military Committee as well as at the European Defence Agency, the EU Institute for Security Studies, the EU Satellite Centre, and NATO's Partnership for Peace program.

Related Articles:

Meet the American Couple Saving Thousands Trying to Get to Europe

Pope urges global response to migrant crisis in Mediterranean

Pope Francis visits Italy's migrant island of Lampedusa

Pope Francis met some of those who had survived the trip.

He challenged everyone to take responsibility for the

migrants' desperation.

Russia to use Chinese engines for Grachonok anti-terror boats

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-01

A Russian Navy Type 21980 Grachonok anti-terror boat. (Internet photo)

Russia has decided to introduce diesel engines from China for its Type 21980 Grachonok anti-terror boats after the Motor and Turbine Union based in Germany declared that it will no longer provide engines, according to Military Parade, a website covering global defense news based in Moscow.

China signed a contract with Russia last week for engines for the two Type 21980 Grachonok anti-terror boats with the serial numbers 01221 and 01222. Both vessels are currently being build by Vympel Shipyard. The vessels will be equipped with TBD620V12 main engines produced in China.

In addition, China has promised to supply two decelerators and two couplings for the vessels.

The Russian Navy placed an order for six Grachonok anti-terror boats from Vympel Shipyard in January 2014. Two shipyards located at Zelenodolsk are also responsible for the construction of the Type 21980 boats. It is unclear whether all the boats will use Chinese engines.

After Knut: Germany's next top polar bear?

Ever since Knut drew millions of visitors to the Berlin Zoo in 2007, Germany has been known for its infatuation with baby polar bears. Knut's little brother - who still needs a name - may be its next animal celebrity.

Deutsche Welle, 15 Feb 2015

Rostock, a city in northeast Germany, has a new potential superstar. He's only two-and-a-half months old, weighs eight kilograms (about 18 pounds) and lives right by the Baltic Sea with his mother Vilma. It's a polar bear baby, a male one, a detail only recently discovered by zoo staff.

The little ball of white fur looks remarkably like Knut, the polar bear that drew people from all over the world to the Berlin Zoo in 2007. The resemblance is no coincidence: the new polar bear baby in Rostock is Knut's half-brother - the two share the same father, Lars.

The baby animal weighed only 600 grams at birth, not much larger than a guinea pig. Employees at the Rostock Zoo were overjoyed at his arrival; the last time a polar bear was born there was 10 years ago.

Looking for a name

Knut's little brother was born on December 3, is healthy and continues to gain weight. He already has enough energy to play with his mother, crawling all over her - but what he doesn't have yet is a name. After all, nobody even knew his gender until a few days ago.

Now that this crucial issue has been determined, Udo Nagel, the zoo's director, has called on all animal lovers to suggest a name. The criteria: it has to be a simple name, one that "sounds Nordic." Suggestions can be submitted via email to the zoo's press department until March 10. The person whose name is selected will win two nights at a local hotel and an invite to the bear's christening.

The baby's first public appearance is slated for the end of March. Until then, he remains alone with his mother, because the first three months should be as quiet as possible for the little family. Unnecessary stress should be avoided at all costs.

Famous forerunner

Famous brother Knut was born in December 2006 at the Berlin Zoo. He was the zoo's first newborn polar bear to survive past infancy in more than 30 years, and became a huge attraction.

One reason for his superstardom, aside from his natural cuteness, was his perceived humanity - he was raised by a zookeeper after being rejected by his mother, and played with his "adoptive father" like a puppy.

But that fame wouldn't last, with Knut dying in 2011 of a brain infection.

The Rostock Zoo might be in for a treat: Knut's home in Berlin reported a 30 percent increase in visitors in 2007. The polar bear, who earned the zoo millions of euros in revenue through the sales of tickets and merchandise, had fans all over the world.

AirAsia Search in Java Sea a Graveyard for WWII Naval Battle

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Jan 02, 2015

An Indonesian helicopter searches for victims and debris during recovery
 operations on Jan. 1, 2015 for Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 that
crashed in the Java Sea. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta. The Java Sea where a massive search operation is underway for Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is also the graveyard for one of the largest naval engagements of World War II.

Old wrecks, whether from battles or peacetime disasters, have occasionally given false leads to modern searches.

Indonesian search and rescue agency official S.B. Supriyadi said on Friday the hunt for the AirAsia plane had detected a metal structure but it proved to be a false lead, “possibly a ship which sank”.

While it is unlikely to have been an old warship, the Java Sea was the scene of a disastrous defeat for the Allied navies by invading Imperial Japanese forces as they swept through the Dutch East Indies.

In the Battle of the Java Sea on Feb. 27, 1942, a combined force of Dutch, US, British and Australian ships was hopelessly outmatched, suffering the loss of five warships and 2,300 sailors against Japanese losses of one damaged destroyer and 36 dead.

A second engagement by British and US forces on March 1 resulted in the sinking of three Allied warships with one Japanese destroyer damaged.

Wrecks from these World War II battles remain at the bottom of the Java Sea and are popular with divers.

In August last year, US Navy archeologists, working with Indonesian navy divers, identified one as the cruiser USS Houston, which sank during the Battle of the Sunda Strait in 1942.

The US Navy said the ship, nicknamed “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast,” was the final resting place of about 650 sailors and Marines.

During the Battle of the Sunda Strait on March 1, 1942, the Houston and Australian cruiser HMAS Perth were sunk during an engagement with a vastly superior Japanese force.

The Houston’s captain received a posthumous Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism.

In November 2013 Indonesian researchers made a surprise discovery of what is believed to be a German submarine that was torpedoed off Java during World War II.

Researchers believe the wreck — which contained at least 17 human skeletons — is U-168, which succeeded in sinking several allied vessels before itself being torpedoed by a Dutch submarine in 1944.

“This is an extraordinary find that will certainly provide useful information about what took place in the Java Sea during World War II,” Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the research team at the National Archaeology Center that found the vessel, said at the time.

As well as the human skeletons, dinner plates bearing swastikas, batteries, binoculars and a bottle of hair oil were pulled from the wreck.

Japan occupied Indonesia during World War II, which was then still known by its colonial name of the Dutch East Indies. Tokyo and Berlin were allies during the war.

Agence France-Presse

Burning ferry to be towed to Italy as rescue airlifts continue

A ferry which set on fire during its journey from Greece to Italy is to be towed to Italy's mainland. One person has died, with hundreds more are still stranded on the ship in the Adriatic Sea.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Dec 2014

Italian officials said the Noram atlantic ferry would probably be taken to either Brindisi or Otranto on Italy's southern coast once towing cables could be securely attached.

Airlifts were also set to continue throughout Sunday night whilst the boat was towed towards mainland Italy.

The Italian navy said that two Italian air force helicopters, one Greek Superpuma helicopter, and an Italian plane were continuing to take part in the rescue, pulling up passengers in small groups. Other aircraft and 10 ships were also taking part in the operation in support roles.

Throughout Sunday, firefighting vessels and helicopters from Greece and Italy were sent to the scene as part of a rescue operation coordinated by Italy. Efforts were hindered, however, by extreme weather conditions.

One death

Italian Coast Guard official Giovanni Pettorino confirmed earlier on Sunday that one person had died during the rescue operation and another had been injured - both of whom were transported by Italian rescuers to the country's mainland.

The Italian-flagged ANEK Lines ferry is thought to have set ablaze after a fire broke out in the lower deck garage of the boat in the early hours of Sunday morning. At the time the ferry was about 44 nautical miles off the coast of Corfu, after leaving the Greek port of Patras en route to Ancona in Italy.

Intense heat

Hundreds were left stranded on smoke-filled top decks as the fire spread throughout the vessel. Passengers contacted Greek television stations via mobile phone to describe their horror as high winds, rain and violent seas lashed the burning ferry. Various passengers also reported that the heat was so intense that shoes had started to melt.

In total, there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, around 234 of whom were said to be Greek. According to the German Foreign Office, 18 Germans were also on board.

ksb/es (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)

Related Articles:

Ferry disaster survivors describe chaos and panic

Dual criminal investigations launched into Adriatic ferry tragedy

Albanian sailors killed during ferry rescue operation

Burning ferry to be towed to Italy as rescue airlifts continue

Safety standards on passenger ships

Germany and the Netherlands end centuries-old border dispute

The Netherlands and Germany have long disagreed about where exactly their shared nautical border lies in the North Sea. A meeting of the two nations' foreign ministers finally put an end to the dispute.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Oct 2014

A border dispute is not an issue usually associated within the cut-and-dry framework of the European Union. Yet that's just what Germany and its neighbor, the Netherlands, finally laid to rest on Friday after centuries of discord over the between German East Frisia and Dutch West Frisia, according to German news agency dpa.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (above left) and his Dutch counterpart, Bert Koenders (right), met at the border between the German town of Emden and Delfzijl in the Netherlands, where the Ems River empties into the disputed Dollart Bay. The ministers signed an agreement that the border will remain ambiguous and both nations will share responsibility for the area.

"If only every conflict could be solved so easily," said Steinmeier, after he and Koenders signed the document, symbolically astride the deck of a ship, floating between both nations.

The agreement has important economic implications, as it has long been the site of contention between German and Dutch fisherman, as well as the 450 million euro- ($570 million) Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm, run by the German EWE energy company to the ire of Dutch protesters.

On the Dutch side, in Delfzijl, a coal power plant has been built which the German East Frisians say will pollute the river and the bay and hurt tourism - something they depend on. The government of Lower Saxony, the state to which East Frisia belongs, called it an "unfriendly act" on the part of the Dutch.

The document signed by Steinmeier and Koenders put these issues to rest, at least diplomatically, and the German wind farm no long stands on shaky ground in terms of international law. The responsibilities of both nations are now clearly defined.

Steinmeier called the agreement "a good result for the economy, for new wind farms and maritime interests."

Related Articles:

Philippines, Indonesia Sign ‘Model’ Maritime Border Accord

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

World's biggest cruise ship to dock in Rotterdam

DutchNews.nl, Tuesday 23 September 2014

The massive Oasis of the Seas in a company photograph

The world’s biggest cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, is due to arrive in Rotterdam port next Monday night after a week long cruise from the Spanish city of Malaga.

The ship is 60 metres wide and can carry 6,360 passengers plus nearly 2,400 crew. It is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Meanwhile, sister ship Quantum of the Seas on Monday left its wharf in the German port of Papenburg for the Dutch North Sea port of Eemshaven.

The 348-metre-long ship was towed down the river Ems by two tugs – a journey which involved keeping the water level in the river artificially high. From Eemshaven, the ship - the world's third biggest cruise liner - will undergo a first short ‘test drive’, owner Royal Caribbean Cruises said.

Australian brings reef fight to Deutsche Bank

A tourism operator from the Great Barrier Reef has come halfway around the world in a last-ditch attempt to save his business. He's hoping to convince European banks not to fund a coal terminal expansion on his doorstep.

Deutsche Welle, 28 May 2014

Signage of a protest against the proposed coal port at Abbot Point, reading Reef In Danger, at the Great Barrier Reef

Tony Brown is a long way from home. Dressed in a navy blue suit, he's sitting in the breakfast room of his Frankfurt hotel, a boiled egg and Brötchen on his plate.

The last time Brown came to Germany, he was in his 20s and the Berlin Wall was still standing. Now a specific mission has brought him back. In a few hours he's planning to address more than 4,000 shareholders at Deutsche Bank's annual general meeting.

"I think our story is compelling, and I think it's important that the banks hear it," he tells DW.

For the past 11 years, the 51-year-old has worked as a tour boat operator in the town of Airlie Beach on Australia's tropical north-east coast. His company takes visitors on sailing trips to the paradisiacal Whitsunday Islands and world-famous Great Barrier Reef.

"There are pristine waters and it's a beautiful place to take people snorkeling and diving, because you can walk straight off a beach into the fringing reefs," he says.

But the expansion of a controversial coal port at Abbot Point, on the reef's doorstep, could put the health of the ecosystem - and Brown's livelihood - at risk.

Tony Brown: 'It's important the
banks hear our story'

The development would make Abbot Point the biggest coal terminal in the world, and involve dumping three million cubic meters of dredged sediment into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

"That's enough spoil to build a five-meter high, one-meter wide wall from Hamburg to Munich," he says. "If this volume of spoil was dumped in the Black Forest, imagine the response from the people of Germany."

Taking on the banks

This is where the banks come in. Deutsche Bank was one of three lenders to help Indian conglomerate Adani Group refinance the lease on the 30-year-old coal port. Adani is now trying to raise billions more to expand the terminal.

In a final effort to stop the project, Brown bought shares in potential investors - including Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and HSBC - and travelled to Europe to urge the banks to stay away.

Brown has just come from Paris, where the Societe Generale AGM didn't go quite as planned. He's disappointed, he reports, because the board wasn't interested in what he had to say.

"I'm not going to profess that I'm the oracle on this, but I certainly have looked into this deeply, and tried to understand what is going on here," he says. "Presenting that information is important. At least I'm putting some balance into the discussion."

Reef in trouble

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral structure in the world, home to 1,625 types of fish, and an abundance of other marine species, including turtles, whales, dolphins and dugongs.

Brown says he's already seen an increase in shipping traffic in the area, and he worries dredging could have an irrevocable effect on water quality and marine life.

"I'm a business person who's concerned about his business, and I have other operators out there who are concerned about their business and livelihood," he says. "Sea dumping is not best practice, and it needs to be changed if we have any hope of turning around the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef."

 

There are 600 different types of coral and an abundance of marine
life in the Great Barrier Reef

The reef is already under threat from climate change and bleaching coral. UNESCO has also expressed concerns about increasing development along the coastline and is threatening to list the reef as World Heritage "in danger."

Last resort

After breakfast it's time to go. Brown is optimistic about the meeting, and he has some local support behind him. In the past few days more than 180,000 Germans have signed a petition calling on Deutsche Bank not to back the mega coal project.

Heffa Schücking, director of German NGO Urgewald, arrives to accompany Brown to the AGM. It's the one place, she says, "where they have to listen to you."

"If there's anyone out there who does care about this, this is the only way we can reach them. Our experience has been that sometimes at AGMs surprising decisions can be taken to move away from a project."

Making the case

The massive convention center hall at Messe Frankfurt is almost full. Several hours pass, and a string of shareholders speak, before Brown's name is finally called.

He's prepared a statement, but as it has to be in German, an interpreter is on hand to read a translation.

He tells shareholders how the Great Barrier Reef's tourism industry provides almost 60,000 jobs, and annually generates more than 6 billion dollars for the Australian economy.

He also tells them that more than 2 million people visit the reef each year - including 200,000 tourists from Germany.

But before Brown's speech is over, there's some good news. Jürgen Fitschen, one of the bank's co-chief executive officers, turns on his microphone and confirms that the company will not finance the development without an assurance that it would not damage the Great Barrier Reef.

"As there is clearly no consensus between the Australian government and UNESCO regarding the impacts of the Abbot Point expansion on the reef we will not consider financial applications of an expansion," Fitschen says.

Mission accomplished

Back at his hotel, hurriedly packing a suitcase (He has a plane to catch), Brown is pleased with how the day has gone. But he admits there will always be more investors who could step in to fund the coal port.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living
 structure on Earth, spanning 2,300 kilometers
(1,430 miles)

"We know the reef's in trouble and needs strong steps to be managed into the future, and Deutsche Bank made those strong steps today," he says.

Heffa Schücking isn't so sure. "As an organization which has over 10 years experience with watching Deutsche Bank, we do have to be careful and stay on our toes," she says. "We will monitor where Deutsche Bank sends its money. We don't want to see indirect financing going towards that harbor or anything else that would destroy the reef."

Next stop on the European tour: the HSBC AGM in London. Brown is hoping he'll have some more good news to take back to his colleagues who live and work on the reef.

Related Articles:

Australia Approves Plan to Dump Dredge Spoil in Barrier Reef

UNESCO expresses alarm, warns Australia over Great Barrier Reef

Time running out for Great Barrier Reef: scientists

Japan prepares to mark three years since devastating quake

Islanders afraid to go home 60 years after Bikini Atoll H-bomb


"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution / Oil spills ...  > 20 Min)